


Cardinal Rule of Zoos

by pastelkanan



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, What am I doing, Zoo, i dont know what im doing, shenanigans ensue, they go to the hecking zoo, what do you want me to say
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 17:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4271766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelkanan/pseuds/pastelkanan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Crystal Gems go the zoo for a nice day out, but Pearl won't stop crushing on Rose, Rose is more interested in the humans than the animals, Garnet can't get Amethyst to stop getting into things and scaring the other zoo-goers while Pearl isn't watching, and Amethyst is disappointed. Garnet is supposed to be the fun one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cardinal Rule of Zoos

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing for SU so I hope it isn't too bad~ <3

   “We’ve been here for _five minutes_ , Amethyst!” Pearl exclaimed. Five minutes! Five minutes was all it took for Amethyst to break the cardinal rule of zoos and feed the animals. It was a free admission day in celebration of the zoo’s anniversary, and a man by the turnstiles had been giving out free granola bars. Amethyst had stuffed her pockets and raced through the turnstile and took off in the direction of the duck pond, and she quickly broke off a couple pieces of her granola bar and threw them into the water.

   Amethyst shrugged. “They’re ducks, Pearl. Everybody feeds the ducks.”

   Pearl let out a long sigh. “Zoo ducks are different from the ducks around the temple.”

   “How?”

   “They just are. These ducks are probably on a feeding schedule and you’re messing it all up. Wild ducks eat whenever they want.”

   Amethyst threw one last chunk of granola into the water and turned away. “Fine, whatever. Where are Rose and Garnet? At least _they_ know how to have fun.”

   Suddenly there was a burst of laughing and the two looked in the direction of the turnstiles. If Amethyst had stayed put for a couple of seconds, Pearl thought, she would know that Rose had gotten into a bit of a… situation, and Garnet was off looking at a map of the zoo. Rose was smiling and thanked the man for offering to help her, but she was fine then. Turnstiles were just made for smaller people, she said. Rose smoothed out her clothes and came over to join Pearl and Amethyst.

   A moment later, Garnet rejoined them with a folded up paper version of the map displayed on a couple of signs. “I think we should visit the wolves,” she said, unfolding the map pointing to an area marked with a little drawing of a wolf. “The pack should be active at this part of the day.”

   Amethyst skipped over to Garnet’s side to look at the map. “The tigers!” she exclaimed. “I want to visit the tigers. They could rip someone apart and oh, man, that would be cool to see.”

   “They aren’t going to feed any people to the tigers, Amethyst,” Pearl sighed. She, too, stepped over to see the map, though she stood on the side of Garnet that was empty. “I think we should go to the little aquarium over here,” she said, pointing. “They have a couple of dolphins I’d like to see.” Amethyst made a little noise that said a thousand words about how boring she thought _dolphins_ were.

   Rose came up beside Pearl, causing Pearl to try to fight down a blush. “Where are the elephants?” she asked. Pearl pointed to the elephant drawing towards the back of the zoo. “Could we go there? There was a baby born a couple of weeks ago. They call her _Angel_. Isn’t that adorable?”

   A few minutes later, the plan was made. They’d go to the back of the zoo first to see the baby elephant if they could, and on the way back they would visit the tigers, then the wolves, and the aquarium would come last due to how close to the front it was. Then they’d stop by the gift shop. Amethyst had gathered as much stray money as she could so she could get a stuffed animal, or something. Pearl stopped listening whenever the slightest mention of Amethyst’s hoard of junk was mentioned.

   On the way to the back of the zoo, a little girl wearing a pink tutu broke away from her mother’s side and ran over to Rose. “Are you a princess?” she asked with the innocence of a thousand puppies.

   Rose gave a big smile and knelt down in front of the girl, causing the other gems to pause to wait for her. “No, dear, I’m afraid I’m no princess. I was a warrior, but now I’m just me. But you, well, you look more like a princess than I do.” The little girl beamed and Rose continued on to say, “All you need is a little crown and a throne to sit on.”

   Then the girl’s mother came rushing over, apologizing profusely for her daughter bothering her. Pearl felt a smile creep across her face as Rose shook her head and promised that it was no bother; that she loved humans, especially the sweetest little young ones. The gems had gotten quite a few strange looks during their time, but the children were always so… kind. They didn’t look with disdain, they didn’t judge. They gasped and jumped up and down and ran to ask questions. The adults were always the ones to give dirty, even frightened, looks.

   “You _like_ her,” Amethyst teased, poking Pearl in the ribs.

   “Amethyst, please,” Pearl muttered, taking a step away from her. It had never been much of a secret that she admired Rose more than anyone, more than anything, but it was a scary thought that she might be in _love_. Especially with that human, Greg, poking around lately. Rose adored humans, adored Greg most of all. It wasn’t fair, Pearl thought.

   She knew Rose better. She had been by her side through the war, through _everything_. Greg wasn’t even a gem, for goodness’ sake! He would die soon and Rose would be devastated because he had been too stubborn to stay away. Pearl was the best one for Rose. Pearl was the one who could stay with Rose forever. So why did Rose care about that… that… _human_ as much as she did?

   It wasn’t fair.

   As if knowing what she was thinking about, Garnet put a hand on Pearl’s shoulder and shook her head. It wasn’t worth getting upset about. Rose was a big girl who could make her own decisions, and as her friends, it was their job to support her.

   Rose rejoined their group and they continued on their way. The back of the zoo might as well have been a thousand miles away from the front gate for as long as it took to get back there. Of course, they were hardly alone in the zoo. Free admission seemed to be a good enough reason for everyone to come out. There were couples holding hands (Pearl avoided looking at them; it just made her more irritated that Rose wanted to hold hands with Greg and not her), groups of children running around and ignoring the shouts of their parents, teenagers taking photos by pretty flower beds and decorative animal statues.

   Rose took it all in without her smile ever coming anywhere close to fading away. She would undoubtedly gush about how much she loved the humans later, but for the moment she walked through the crowds and admired them in silence. When they finally reached the elephant exhibit, however, her silence was broken. The baby elephant was out, sticking close to her mother’s side. “Oh, isn’t she just the cutest!” Rose exclaimed. “I could stay here and watch them forever.”

   Pearl kept close to Rose’s side. She was vaguely aware of Garnet trying to get Amethyst down from a nearby tree, but that wasn’t her biggest concern at the moment. “I agree,” Pearl said softly, though her gaze was directed towards Rose and not the elephants.

   Rose pointed to a little boy climbing up on his dad’s shoulders to get a better view. “It’s strange, isn’t it? They love other creatures so much that they never stop to admire their own species.” She paused. “Oh, don’t give me that look, Pearl. I know you aren’t a big fan of humans, but I’ve seen the way you get flustered when they try to compliment you. Even you can see their good qualities.”

   Before Pearl had a chance to say anything, Amethyst was running over and Garnet was close behind. “Amethyst wants to move on,” Garnet said. “She’s very excited about the tigers.”

   So they moved on, because Amethyst would have never left Pearl and Rose alone if they didn’t agree to go on to see the tigers with her and Garnet. The tiger exhibit was surrounded by chain-link fences and topped with netting so the cats couldn’t get out, but none of that stopped Amethyst from trying to get _in_. She stuck her hands through whatever holes she could find that were big enough and called out to the cats, trying to get them to come over to her. Promising that they could eat Pearl if they came over and let her touch them.

   Garnet picked her up and held her away from the fences so she couldn’t do that, much to Amethyst’s annoyance. Wasn’t ruining her fun supposed to be _Pearl’s_ job? When did Garnet get boring? Well, she’d have to get over it as they headed to the wolf exhibit. Garnet was usually pretty good at keeping her cool, but she seemed excited to see the pack. It wouldn’t be the first time she had seen wolves, not even close, but something about them always excited her. The way they worked together, she supposed, was what she admired.

   The wolves stuck together the way the Crystal Gems did, and that meant something. It was okay for them to stick together. It was okay for them to stare down the Homeworld gems and fight for what they believed in. That was what the residents of Earth did, and that was what they would do.

   That, and wolves looked really majestic. Who didn’t like big, wild, majestic dogs?

   By the time they got to the aquarium, Pearl had begun to miss her room back at the temple. The dolphins took her mind off of that. The feeding sessions were already over for the day so there was nothing super exciting for Amethyst to watch in the aquarium, so Garnet took her to go out to the gift shop while Pearl and Rose looked at some of the fish. Though, Rose seemed more interested in the humans who were looking in the tanks than in the fish themselves.

   But Pearl smiled anyways, because that was who Rose was. Even if she didn’t agree with it, Rose loved humans more than words could describe. Pearl loved Rose, Rose loved humans, and humans loved zoos.

   It was an endless cycle.


End file.
